Sunday, May 17, 2015

John Elliotson---friend of Dickens, champion of mesmerism and vegetarianism

Dr John Elliotson (1791 - 1868 ), though attacked in his own time for his unconventional practices, would have thrived today as a go-to TV doctor on all things to do with alternative medicine.
He was conventional enough as a medical student, but then went on to study phrenology, and afterwards introduced his friend Dickens to mesmerism, on which he became an acknowledged expert. Thackeray dedicated Pendennis to him and based his character Dr Goodenough in his last novel, The Adventures of Philip, on Elliotson. He was a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Physicians and the Royal Society, and was one of the first doctors to advocate the use of the stethoscope. Wilkie Collins called him ‘one of the greatest English physiologists’. He was also, though the biographical sources don’t mention it, a firm fan of vegetarianism, which in mid Victorian England was still frowned on. In this undated letter, which was found in a collection of autographed material, Elliotson recommends to an unknown correspondent that his brother continue with his non-meat diet:

'He need not take fish--milk & all sorts of vegetable productions, offer dishes without end. Tell him to read the account of the meeting of the Vegetarian Society in the Daily News of this morning. I know members who eat no meat(excluding fish also) & drink neither wine … & are in the finest health. I would not wish him to eat fish if it disquiets him –but tell them one thousand good dishes (are) made from milk & vegetable matter…Bread & milk, custards, use arrowroot, sago, tapioca pudding, sweet omelettes, fruits of all kinds, in all ways.'

Despite being censured by many members of the medical community—and in particular Thomas Wakley, editor of The Lancet-- for his interest in mesmerism Elliotson persisted in championing the subject and even edited a magazine, The Zoist, which promoted the topic. He also founded a mesmeric hospital. [RR]

... World Brain of H.G. Wells, an olla podrida, a rag bag of information, trivia and data. The conception of a sublime, leisured future. A hotch potch, a mélange, a farrago, a salmagundi.. Knowledge is power. Truth is beauty. Need to know this (and much more) on earth. A coming world of creation and idleness where time is spent in pursuit of knowledge and robots empty the waste paper basket. A dream of no work, all play and jack not a dull boy any more.

The oddest collection, passing strange, a saga, a fantasy, a dream…enter Captain Cuttle and the pedant Casaubon (a maligned man, Madam George). Keeping some sort of record with factoids, footnotes, ephemera, factbooks and discoveries preserved. An information bank, an interest bearing investment. An index of all knowledge, no less, laid out in the lost monograph- A proposal for an information sharing galaxy.

An amazing expanding archive, way beyond the algorithmic dream, post Mass Observation, many beautiful things no longer lost, bringing forth the mind of God, the all seeing eye - the library of Babel, Alexandria, far Antioch and the lost library of Zembla, the loot of cities. Universal access to all knowledge [A2K]. A vanished world recaptured. Notes and Queries honoured: New Encyclopaedists [Encyc2]. Nothing lost or forgotten. Time spent in research, curiosity and scholarship (the daring to be dull) the Renaissance ideal, the Victorian vicarage - just 4 hours a week of money yielding work. By Timothy! The answer is written on the wind, on the wall of the world. So much to know. Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus, much glory to Aaron Swartz... "He had a tale to tell." Madam, I'm Adam. Exit, pursued by a bear.

Jotcloud 101

"…new books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories, whole catalogues of volumes of all sorts, new paradoxes, opinions, schisms, heresies, controversies in philosophy, religion, &c. Now come tidings of weddings, maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilees, embassies, tilts and tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays: then again, as in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies, enormous villainies in all kinds, funerals, burials, deaths of Princes, new discoveries, expeditions; now comical then tragical matters.To-day we hear of new Lords and officers created, to-morrow of some great men deposed, and then again of fresh honours conferred; one is let loose, another imprisoned; one purchaseth, another breaketh; he thrives, his neighbour turns bankrupt; now plenty, then again dearth and famine; one runs, another rides, wrangles, laughs, weeps &c... [Robert Burton]

What's the big idea?

Q. Where did the idea of jot101 and 'jotting' come from?

A. We knew a collector of esoterica who wrote notes and comments about his reading which he called his 'jottings.' It came from there. The information is not necessarily amusing, interesting, quirky or strange - but a 'jot' is generally new and original information or an advance on existing facts.

Q. So you would like jot101 to be a place where people archive research and notes from their readings?

A. Yes, but also information that they have come across in their work, in travel, from friends, in anecdote, in their family and in old books, periodicals, pamphlets and letters, manuscripts, notebooks and ephemera. Also obscure data, eyewitness reports, documents, photos, snapshots, press cuttings, diaries, biographies of seemingly unimportant people etc.,

Q. How does it differ from something like Wikipedia?

A. Much of the material is too minor and outside of the scope of an encyclopaedia. It is more about the preservation and curation of documents and ephemera; much of the information is beneath the Wikipedia radar (not notable enough) - it is closer to material referenced in their numbered footnotes …or the kind of information on which an encyclopaedic entry is based, part of the infrastructure... Jot101 is nearer to a mix of YouTube and the Victorian journal Notes and Queries in the way that people simply upload or record things they have found which are then in categories and searchable. The spirit of Notes and Queries is relentless curiosity and thirst for knowledge - however abstruse.

Q. Have you considered building a website and attracting contributions?

We already have a few contributors. We envision, in this century, a site where people seamlessly upload new information that they have found without having to create a website or a blog. Also where it is automatically codified along the lines of (say) the great Melvil Dewey and available for all eternity.

Remind me -what is a jot?

A jot is a piece of information. It is usually original and adds to our knowledge of the subject. Examples below:

The Terry-Thomas explanation.

Using the much loved gap-toothed British comedy actor Terry-Thomas as an example we show what is, and what is not, a jot.

Terry-Thomas's favourite drink was champagne. My father had a bar in Majorca and in the early 1960s Terry-Thomas holidayed there. He claims that T-T met Belinda Cunningham his third wife in his bar.It was called El Garito and catered for a louche Bohemian crowd. Terry-Thomas always called for champagne.

YES. Slight, but new information.

Terry-Thomas with his gap toothed smile and permanent cigarette holder always reminds me of my Uncle Derek who was thrown out of the Army in 1955 for stealing the mess takings. He was a 'bounder' too!

NO. Irrelevant information, adds nothing.

Terry-Thomas who everybody thought was such a 'bounder' and so terribly funny never made me or anyone in my family laugh. I think he was pretty lame.

NO. Opinion, and no new information. Also hard to believe...

I met a guy who had worked on a movie with Terry-Thomas. It was being shot in one of the hardest parts of Glasgow and after filming T-T insisted on dragging him and the crew to an exceptionally thuggish hardcore pub. T-T was in fine form, loud and posh and full of the joys of life and celebrity. He didn't change his style one iota for the local hard nuts. The guy thought there would almost certainly be a punch up but strangely the locals thought he was great and admired him for being exactly who he was and not changing his style.

YES. Good story, hopefully true and new information. A few more facts like the date, the name of the movie and the name of the pub would be even better.

So a jot adds new and original information, it is not irrelevant and it is not opinion. Every single posting on jot101 is a jot.